Prostate cancer management in the era of COVID-19: Recommendations from the Hong Kong Urological Association and Hong Kong Society of Uro-oncology.

Aim: In response to the fast-developing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, special arrangement and coordination are urgently required in the interdisciplinary care of patients across different medical specialties. This article provides recommendations on the management of different stages of localized or metastatic prostate cancer (PC) amid this pandemic.

Methods: The Hong Kong Urological Association and Hong Kong Society of Uro-oncology formed a joint discussion panel, which consisted of six urologists and six clinical oncologists with extensive experience in the public and private sectors.

CT angiography versus conventional digital angiography in preoperative assessment for Chinese living kidney donors.

Background: Computed tomography (CT) angiography is used for preoperative evaluation of living kidney donors, but its correlation with intraoperative findings during the transplant operation remains unknown.

Methods: Between April 1997 and October 2008, 34 consecutive pairs of living kidney transplants were carried out. Conventional digital angiography was employed for the preoperative assessment in the first 19 pairs, and CT angiography in the subsequent 15 pairs.

Electrophoretic separation and characterization of urinary glycosaminoglycans and their roles in urolithiasis.

Urinary polyanions recovered from the urine samples of kidney stone-formers and normal controls were subjected to preparative agarose gel electrophoresis, which yielded fractions 1-5 in a decreasing order of mobility. In both groups, chondroitin sulfates were identified in the fast-moving fractions and heparan sulfates in the slow-moving fractions. Furthermore, two types of heparan sulfates were identified based on their electrophoretic mobility: slow-moving and fast-moving.

Melatonin slowed the early biochemical progression of hormone-refractory prostate cancer in a patient whose prostate tumor tissue expressed MT1 receptor subtype.

Melatonin inhibited the proliferation of hormone-independent LNCaP prostate cancer cells partly via MT1 receptor activation both in vitro and in nude mice xenograft model. In this study, the melatonin receptor expression in the prostate cancer tissue of a patient with bone metastases and the effect of melatonin on the biochemical progression of hormone-refractory prostate tumor which later developed in the same patient were reported. Saturation and competition 2-[125I]iodomelatonin binding assays were conducted on prostate tumor tissue obtained by transurethral resection of the prostate from the index patient.

Melatonin and prostate cancer cell proliferation: interplay with castration, epidermal growth factor, and androgen sensitivity.

Background: Potential modulatory effects of melatonin on the proliferation of androgen-sensitive LNCaP and androgen-insensitive PC-3 and DU 145 prostate cancer cells were reported recently. In this study, we investigated the effects of combined melatonin and castration on LNCaP tumor growth in vivo, the interactions between melatonin and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on LNCaP cell proliferation, and melatonin actions on the proliferation of PC-3 and DU 145 cells.

Methods: Tumor development and growth in castrated nude mice inoculated with LNCaP cells or in intact animals inoculated with DU 145 cells, with or without daily melatonin treatment, were monitored by observation and caliper measurement.